The Private Sector

Private building development underwent another year of consolidation in
1997. The number of building plan submissions increased from 13 340 in
1996 to 15 862 in 1997, and 838 buildings with a total floor area of 3.4
million square metres were completed at a cost of $31.22 billion. This
compared with 1 000 buildings with a total floor area of 3.2 million square
metres built at a cost of $28.08 billion in 1996.

Private sector activities continued to include redevelopment of existing
sites, alterations and additions to existing buildings and new developments.
The growing trend is towards an increase in the number and size of
developments in the northern New Territories. To cope with the housing
demand, measures have been introduced to expedite the building
development process.

Apart from the extensive building works associated with the new airport
at Chek Lap Kok, the Buildings Department has been increasingly involved
with the building developments above the railway stations of the Airport
Railway. Other involvement included developments concerning hotels,
government assisted housing projects and the school improvement
programme.

The department is studying the feasibility of the submission of plans and
supporting documents for building proposals in electronic data format.
The new approach will reduce the use of paper in building designs and
drawings and will facilitate their retrieval. In the longer term, the study
will pave the way for use of artificial intelligence in plan processing
through computer technology.

A special task force continued to monitor and enhance the safety of
construction and demolition sites in the private sector. In 1997, the
department carried out 3 572 site safety inspections and issued 456
advisory letters to the responsible persons of those sites where safety
related irregularities were discovered. The site monitoring task force has
been successful in reminding contractors and professionals in the building
industry of the importance of construction site safety.

New systems for the registration of authorised persons, registered
structural engineers and contractors have been introduced to improve
their experience, competence, and qualification and to ensure the quality
and safety of building works. The requirement for the preparation of
supervision plans to set out clearly the responsibilities of all parties
involved in the supervision of building works has also been implemented.
The new requirement will enhance the safety of construction sites.

In all, 2 840 buildings in the 1946-58 age group were inspected and 570
investigation or repair orders were served under the inspection
programme to implement recommendations in the consultancy study on
buildings in this age group. The department also inspected 666
cantilevered slab canopies, resulting in the issue of 32 investigation orders.

The department received 249 calls under the 24-hour service for
emergencies, and 97.2 per cent of the cases were attended to within three
hours. In addition, 3 722 reports on potential dangerous building elements
were received. Sixteen per cent of the emergency calls and other reports
concerned danger from external elements of buildings including
projections, appendages, advertising signs and loose finishes. The
remaining cases related mainly to water seepage, dangerous scaffolding,
dangerous slopes and damage by fire.

To ensure that private buildings in Hong Kong continue to meet standards
of safety and health after they have been certified for occupation, the
government has been exercising pragmatic control over unauthorised
building works (UBW). The growth of UBW has now been generally
contained as all significant new UBW are subjected to immediate
enforcement action. To help identify new UBW, the department has been
taking aerial photographs on rooftop structures twice a year. Record
photographs are also taken on buildings. On the public safety front, the
department has been removing all identified dangerous or UBW as a
matter of priority. In 1997, a task force was set up to remove all
dangerous or abandoned air conditioning water cooling towers in old
industrial areas. As a result of the operations, 455 cooling towers and
frameworks were removed in Kwun Tong, Kwai Tsing and Tsuen Wan.

Greater emphasis has also been placed on the health and environmental
aspect of UBW. Unauthorised structures such as exhaust fans, ventilation
ducts and the like which cause environmental and health nuisance to
neighbours or the general public are subjected to immediate enforcement
action.

In 1997, 12 427 reports of UBW were dealt with, resulting in the removal
of 6 829 UBW. In all, 127 prosecution cases were instigated against
offenders for erecting UBW or for not complying with removal orders.
As a result, 77 convictions were secured with total fines of $2.04 million.

Lack of proper building maintenance causes building safety problems.
The voluntary Building Safety Inspection Scheme, which serves to
promote systematic inspection and preventive maintenance of buildings
under 20 years of age, was launched in April 1997. The details of the
proposed mandatory Building Safety Inspection Scheme, targeting at
buildings over 20 years old, were announced in August 1997 for
comments by the public. The department aimed to start implementing the
essential measures of the scheme by mid-1998.

During 1997, 178 statutory orders were served on building owners,
requiring slope upgrading works to be carried out. In addition, emergency
action was taken by contractors in response to 38 reports on landslip
incidents. To ensure proper maintenance and repair of buried
water-carrying services, leakage from which might otherwise endanger
slopes, 328 fill slopes were studied, resulting in the issue of 33
investigation/repair orders.

The government has since May 1997 been implementing the Fire Safety
(Commercial Premises) Ordinance to upgrade fire safety measures in
certain prescribed commercial premises such as banks, betting centres,
jewellery shops, shopping arcades and supermarkets.

After the tragic fires in Garley Building, Top One Karaoke and Mei Foo
Sun Chuen, the government stepped up inspections with a view to
improving the fire safety standards attained. A total of 648 inspections
were made, 6 423 advisory letters issued, and 72 statutory orders served.
As a result, rectification works were completed in six buildings and were
in progress in 31.

Community education and publicity were strengthened to cultivate higher
awareness of fire safety and to promote better management of buildings.

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